The film, by Anri Sala, explores memory in relation to war, revolution and dictatorship | August 14, 2009

As part of The Contemporary Arts Center’s 2008-2009 Perspectives Lecture Series: Art, History and Memory, Xavier University history professors Dick Gruber, Rachel Chrastil and Julia O’Hara will screen and then discuss Anri Sala’s early film, "Intervista." It will be viewed on Aug. 17 from 6:30 p.m.-8:00 p.m. in the art center’s performance space. The viewing and discussion are free to arts center members and open to non-members for a donation.

The professors will broaden the discourse on Sala’s early work by introducing the topic of memory in relation to war, revolution and dictatorship. They will explore how individual memory and collective memories of trauma transform over time.

With 2009 being the 20th anniversary of the “Revolutions of ’89,” the first lecture in this year’s Perspectives Series takes advantage of Anri Sala’s timely installation at the arts center: "Anri Sala: Purchase Not By Moonlight."

Sala, a native of Albania, was educated in Paris and now lives in Berlin. As a result, his works have a global perspective. Intervista (1998) is about his search for a lost sound reel from an interview with his mother when she attended the 1977 Albanian Youth Congress. Unable to locate the reel, Sala finally uses lip-readers to fill in the dialogue and plays the interview for his mother. She is shocked at the Communist thoughts of her youth. Sala’s mother reflects on how experience affected her early beliefs. She urges today’s youth to always question the truth. While Intervista was being filmed, Albania’s economy collapsed and civil unrest followed.